Disposable cleaning wipes and pads are well known in the art. These have been made for such diverse needs as car care, skin care and kitchen cleaning. Disposable cleaning wipes have two advantages. First, because the wipes include both substrate and cleaning chemistry in a single execution, the two components can be designed to maximize cleaning effectiveness; this is in contrast to conventional cleaning products for which the cleaning substrate and cleaner are independently selected and rarely coordinated. Second, disposable wipes are easy to use and throw away. Net, consumers achieve strong cleaning rewards and do so with less hassle.
Known disposable cleaning wipes for cleaning hard-surfaces are typically pre-moistened, and designed for single use on kitchen and bathroom surfaces; Known single-use disposable cleaning wipes are not adapted for the removal of soap scum and lime scale, which is a typical need in cleaning bathroom surfaces such as bathtub and shower enclosures. The disposable cleaning wipes known in the art do not comprise enough cleaning actives, nor sufficient solvent and/or water, to clean an entire bathtub or shower enclosure. Tough soils such as soap scum, lime scale and mixtures thereof are not sufficiently softened by the wipe chemistry and remain difficult to remove, even with use of multiple wipes.
It has now been found that effective and convenient cleaning of such bathroom surfaces can be accomplished by single-use disposable wipes, in which the cleaning composition present on the wipe is activated by water and released on the bathroom surface to be cleaned.
Furthermore, specific cleaning compositions in the form of aqueous solutions or pastes, have been formulated, which are very effective at removing soap scum, lime scale and mixtures thereof, from bathroom surfaces, when used in combination with single use disposable wipes of the invention and according to the water-activation method herein disclosed.
Additionally, specific compositions in paste form have been created which provide excellent cleaning, ease of finished product manufacturing, and product aesthetics advantages.
Methods for the cleaning of hard surfaces that involve addition of water to disposable cleaning wipes in paste or pre-moistened form are known in certain areas, particularly in the dishwashing area. U.S. Patent Application publication No. 2002/0132747 to Huyhn et al., published Sep. 19, 2002, and assigned to The Procter & Gamble Company, discloses a process for cleaning dishware using a two-sided kitchen wipe, which can be dry or wet to the touch. U.S. Patent Application publication No. 2003/0100462 to Suazon et al., published May 29, 2003 and assigned to The Colgate-Palmolive Company discloses a dishwashing cleaning wipe that is substantially dry to the touch comprising (a) 20% to 95% of a water insoluble substrate and (b) 5% to 80% of a cleaning composition impregnated in said water insoluble substrate, said composition comprising: 20-60% of a sulfonated surfactant, 30-65% of an ethoxylated nonionic surfactant, 1-10% of polyethylene glycol wherein the composition contains less than 10% water. U.S. Patent Application 2003/0100462 additionally discloses a method of cleaning by wetting a dish wipe with water.
The above cleaning composition wipes are not suitable for cleaning bathroom soils such as soap scum and lime scale and mixtures thereof.
Multi-use wipes for specific use in the bathroom are also known in the art. U.S. Pat. No. 4,759,865 discloses a pasty detergent composition for cleaning bathroom compositions that comprises a pasty mass made by dry mixing alkyl benzene sulfonic acid followed by neutralization with a caustic solution, active organic acid and filler. The gluey detergent paste serves both as an active cleaning component and a carrier for organic acids for the removal of lime scale and soap scum, and is used as such, without water-activation.
Representative of known single use wipes for hard-surfaces is U.S. Pat. No. 6,376,443, which discloses a bathroom wipe comprising a water insoluble substrate and an aqueous cleaning composition at a load factor up to 2.25 g/g, said cleaning compositions consisting of 0.1% to 5% zwitterionic surfactant, 0.5% to 10% C1-C4 alkanol, 0.5% to 8% of a cosurfactant, 0.1% to 1% of an antirain or antidust agent and 0.05% to 3.0% of a proton donating agent at a pH from about 3 to about 7.
It is therefore an object of this invention to provide a method for cleaning bathroom surfaces, in particular soap scum and lime scale and mixtures thereof in bathroom tub and shower enclosures, with a cleaning wipe that delivers sufficient mileage for the cleaning of a full bathtub or shower enclosure with a single cleaning wipe, and without the need for more than one product for the entire cleaning process. Since the size and number of surfaces can vary from consumer to consumer or even for the same consumer on different occasions, the invention also provides for limited re-use. Limited re-use provides the ability, if the consumer chooses, to use single wipe to do small job, store and re-use it again for an additional job or until the chemistry is exhausted.
It is another object of this invention to provide superior performing articles for cleaning bathroom surfaces, containing cleaning wipes comprising at least one nonwoven substrate impregnated with a cleaning composition in aqueous or paste form.
It is a further object of this invention to provide superior cleaning compositions, particularly in paste form, preferably to be used with the method and articles of the invention.